The Internet is a wonderful “place” and a super-handy medium of communication. And all the resources that are available on it!! Then toss in the on-line services and all the BBS’s around. Lots of information is out there, awaiting your modem’s attention.

Much of what can be found would fall in the useful and amoral categories. However, we all know that the enemy of mankind continues to introduce monstrous amounts of immoral and evil stuff. Wanting to be faithful and accountable, some of us modem-ites in my home congregation have signed the following covenant (a totally personal, non-congregational move):

“I purpose before God and my Brothers [and Sisters] to never use my modem to intentionally download or view any file (text or graphic) that is sexual, pornographic, obscene, immoral and/or lustful in nature. I also purpose to avoid newsgroups and mailing lists that disseminate similar material. By signing this covenant of Brotherhood accountability, I give my co-signing Brothers the privilege and responsibility of checking up on my faithfulness in this area.”

Quite a number of you “out there” have written to say that you also have bound yourself with this covenant.

(The foregoing is taken from www.anabaptists.org/pledge.html.)

Comment

It is our view that probably most people are not able to adequately control their use of the Internet. Although this is an amazing means of accessing thousands of helpful sites and tens of thousands of bits of helpful information, most do not exercise self-control in their use of the worldwide web. For this reason, we cannot give unqualified endorsement of the Internet. If anyone wishes to use their computer to access the Internet for medical, geographical, spiritual, or other beneficial reasons, we would recommend the use of Internet providers that offer reliable filtering, such as Character Net or Integrity. Apart from such an alternative, we would recommend that you not use the Internet.

We have known of brothers who fell into sins on the Internet and finally renounced its use. I commend them for this. If you find yourself spending too much time with email or Internet; if you fail to exercise self-control in what you access; or if you are failing to fulfil your obligations to study Scripture, pursue regular prayer, serve your spouse, or nurture your family, then you may need to forsake any use of the Internet. If these elements are not a problem for you, you may wish to take the foregoing “pledge” to be accountable to your brothers and sisters in the body of Christ in your use of the Internet. May God help all of us to glorify Him and walk in holiness and integrity before Him.